Cancel Everything

 What a bummer of a decision. 

April 5th marks 10 years of working full-time at my post-Mega-Bank employer.  One of the amazing perks is the sabbatical program, whereby after five years of employment the employee is encouraged to take a four-week sabbatical.  This is on top of the normal accrued vacation.   Now, we aren't allowed to take weeks of vacation and then the sabbatical, they don't want us to burn out our co-workers while we are away doing the lounging thing.

One of my favorite things to do is to plan trips.   When we took the cruise to the Panama Canal, I researched wonderful places to eat near our hotel in Miami, had lots of information about the places we would visit and enjoyed that part almost as much as the trip itself.     Therefore, knowing I had a sabbatical coming up in 2020, I've been planning and dreaming for a while.

We have enjoyed the two cruises we've been on and I thought taking one from the east coast would be fun.   I booked the three of us onto a 7 night New England/Canada cruise leaving NYC on Sunday, August 30th.   We would fly into NYC on the 25th to be tourists.   I've explored the neighborhood around our hotel, found a historic steak restaurant in walking distance and had started lists of the museums we (I) wanted to visit.

Current projections of the Covid-19 virus is that it will taper off over the summer, but chances are come fall it will spike again.   Clearly, August and early September are still summer and the weather should be amazing on the east coast, but getting on a cruise ship just doesn't seem wise.  

So... rather than risk it and tie up our considerable payments into a cruise that we may not take we opted to cancel.   This means a series of calls and visits to the associated travel sites.   Airfare - canceled.  Hotel - canceled. Cruise - canceled.

There are still some things planned for the sabbatical window.   The peanut has sleep-away summer camp booked and fingers crossed that we are not still in lockdown at that point.   While she survives in the wild (in cabins with guitar-toting college kids) I'll be visiting nearby Lake Roosevelt and getting some sun.  

There's time to visit Grandma G.  Now, with the NYC trip off the books, maybe we'll take the kid on a road trip to visit the Denver grandparents.  Maybe we'll rent a house in the Hamptons... maybe we'll fly to Switzerland...maybe not.

For now, the most disappointing thing is that we don't have something on the horizon.

Survivor

The upside, we are getting into our groove, and having folks in the house all day isn't so terrible.   We do a pretty good job of transitioning from "work/school" to "home".

There were two major shopping outings this weekend, a big Safeway run and this morning J took advantage of the employee-only hour at Costco to pick up a bunch of stuff.   We are planning on being home for at least a month.

I had to venture out today to go to the bank, which is not an activity that I normally would have to do, but it was necessary.    It's odd being "out and about".   Traffic is super light and parking is plenty.   People tend to give each other a lot of room and for the most part, everyone is very kind and in a pleasant mood.

I feel for the people in the bank, at the stores and even restaurants who are only doing delivery/take out.  I am sure they would rather be at home.   It's a balance, be home, stay safe or have no income.   We want to support our local businesses, but I'm more comfortable cooking our own food for now.

One would think that with all the home life that we were saving money, but so far whatever we save we seem to pay elsewhere.   Our housekeeping service has been "put on hold" for now, but I'm paying them for next week anyway.   I can't imagine that they are doing well. 

The President is a mess, his press conferences are an embarrassment.   He says one thing and it's pretty clear that he's just saying what he thinks "we" want to hear to make himself look good.   Then, the folks that actually know what they are talking about get to the podium and contradict what he says.

The Senate wants to approve a financial support package to help the people in this crazy time, but they can't decide if they are going to help individuals or big corporations.  I'm a people person and think that if a corporation gets financial help they shouldn't get any more than what they paid in taxes.   

I've stopped reading the news and social media right before bedtime because while I fall asleep right away I wake up around 3am and am spinning.  That's not healthy.

It's my turn to cook... again

I guess I didn't realize how much we chose to eat the fast way, by rotating thru our favorite restaurants in our area.  Af the workday winds down I think, what's for dinner and for the last eight nights it's been home-cooked. 

When this isolation thing is all done I hope we find a better balance between a dinner out at Casa Durango for amazing authentic Mexican food and the kitchen cuisine I've been cobbling together.

Tonight we will eat a South African Chicken Chutney that is very tasty and actually easy.  The hardest part was remembering to thaw the chicken.   That planning ahead thing will get you every time.

It would be nice to have staff around to plan, prepare and clean up meals, but I suppose I needed a different life for that to happen. 

Homeschool

School Schedule

Today is Wednesday, March 18th

School Activities

• Math pages 8,9,10
• Soduko P 11-14
• Crosswords #6, 9
• Spelling: Page 10&11 
• Writing:  O465 Topic:  The best thing about being home is...
• Computer time: 1 hour (your choice from Mrs. Henry's page)
• Reading:  30 minutes Alice

iPad time after completing the above.

Special Activity

LEGO CHALLENGE

Build a bridge

• The road must be 6 inches from the floor and 1 foot long
• Doesn't have to be beautiful, but we will test to see how much weight it can hold
• NO GLUE

Information

Mom has meetings (on the phone)9:30-noon1:30-4pm

Dad has meetings
8:30-9:00
2:30-3:00

If office doors are shut, please only come in for an emergency

SNACK TIME @ 11am (tv ok during snack)

LUNCH Chicken Noodle Soup & Grilled Cheese (I'll get more tomato soup the next time we go to the store)   Fruit

School gets out at 4pm today

A new world

Covid-19 has impacted our daily life.   School is closed, so we are making a daily list of homeschool activities to keep the Peanut engaged and in a school state of mind.   She loves Soduku and is having fun with the crosswords.  Spelling continues to be a struggle.

J's employer made the decision that they too can work from home when special circumstances are present.   The closing of school was the ticket for him to be allowed to do something that he has been able to successfully do for the last few years.   Sometimes it's management that needs to change.

For me, I've been working at home for the last 11 years, so the real disruption is all these people in the house 24/7.  I have always loved my quiet alone time, so this is truly an adjustment.

Thankfully, the weather has been spectacular for the last 5 days, so we have been able to get out and go to the park, get some vitamin D in the chilly sunshine.

I feel for the mom's in the neighborhood with younger kids.  Keeping the littles busy for days and days on end can be exhausting.  L is at the age where she can entertain herself, and reach out via facetime to hang with friends who we can't see in person.    She has one friend that they facetime and then login to a game called Roblox and they play together in that virtual world.   Thank goodness for out high volume Internet.  L isn't able to play or talk with strangers online, and I hope to leave it that way for the next 200 years.

Emotionally, this is rough.  The news is scary, and staying off social media is critical to not getting so much information that it feels like the virus is knocking on our door (but, honestly isn't it?)

We are lucky in that the closure of restaurants and other venus only impacts us as an inconvenience, rather than our livelihood.  It's hard to know how to help folks that are impacted.